Spax Orion^✔ @SpaxOrion

Opensimulator is FREE but not a "free-for-all" **

I have noticed there are a number of people who use the Opensimulator server software but they do not fully understand the true concept of it's OPEN nature.

In real life, I have been contributing to FREE and Open sourced software for well over a decade and I rely on it for most of my day to day computing tasks. I have a full working knowledge of what open source is and the level of freedom it gives to the people who use it. Free software gives you the ability to see the source code, change it, make it better, share your changes with friends and some open source licenses will allow you to SELL your modified code. There are many versions of Opensim such as the OSgrid builds, Arriba, Sasquatch, Isthmus or Halcyon and there is nothing stopping YOU from making your own version. You cannot do this with closed sourced software legally. This is the extent to which Opensimulator is OPEN.

Opensimulator is FREE! Free as in Freedom. You are FREE to use the software in any way that you feel is morally or socially acceptable and there is no defined method on how you should use the software. I see people all the time saying things to the effect of: "You should let everyone in your sim." or "You have no right to block bad people or grids." or "You should give everything away free because that is what Opensim was made for." If any of those statements are true then PROVE IT! Go on http://opensimulator.org and show me where it says this. I can assure you that I have completely read the BSD license and it is SHORTER than this article I am writing right now. Nowhere does the license say anything on how you should use the software because that act alone would nullify the freedoms that the Opensimulator developers have given you. You will not find (and probably never will find) any documentation enforcing edicts on how they think you should use this software. They do however have guides on getting the most out of it's features, it is an invaluable resource.

What does all of this mean? FREEDOM FOR ALL but NOT a free-for-all. You have the right to impose RULES on your sims and Opensim software gives grid operators powerful OSSL code to deal with interlopers and troublemakers. Nobody should walk all over you and tell you how to run your grid, when it is your servers, your money and your resources. YOU ARE IN CONTROL. Grid operators have the ability to block any viewer they want, it is built right in. You define how your grid operates and are under no obligation to obey anyone who hates you for using these features. Some may say "Because a feature exists does not mean you should use it." and they would be WRONG because these settings would not be included if the Opensimulator developers did not intend for people to use them.

I challenge anyone who disagrees with this article to visit http://opensimulator.org and show me any documentation which refutes anything I have said. I will only accept submissions from the aforementioned url because it is the OFFICIAL website for the Opensimulator project and they are the supreme authority governing it's use.

Feel free to share this article when needed.

Peace & Love
Spax

** A free-for-all is a situation in which several people or groups are trying to get something for themselves and there are no controls on how they do it.

Wow... this project started in late 2020 and it still is not quite finished. Most of the rides are fully working now and many of the attractions need some polish. Hopefully I will be opening in a month or two... I am so excited to finally see the "light at the end of the tunnel", lets hope it is not a train coming to run me over, LOL!

You have seen theme parks on sunny beaches, boardwalks and even in post-nuclear fallout zones. This park is located in a swamp infested with reptiles, monsters and other sorts of vermin. There are over 50 rides and attractions guaranteed to bemuse or completely annoy you. Keep an eye on your health meter or you could be the main course at Chopsy's Diner! Message me if you want in on the BETA TEST.

Special thanks to: Satyr Aeon, Greybox Darkward, Builder Jim, Chopsy Bode, Jimmy Olsen, Prince Amor & Frank Funfair who's contributions made this project possible.

For better or worse, I am sharing things I have done for online safety in Opensim, as the reader you can decide for yourself which actions to take. If you can learn from your own mistakes, you are pretty smart but if you can learn from SOMEONE ELSE'S mistakes, you are a genius!

After reading a number of posts on Opensimworld, it is apparent that some hobbyists of unaware of protections they have available when running Opensimulator for the first time. Some tinkerers may opt for running a simulator on their spare computer at home and connecting the region to an OPEN grid like OSgrid or Zetaworlds. Nothing beats the excitement of having your own land for the first time. You spend hours designing your city, giving it a theme, placing sit targets on all of your furniture; everything is 'ponies and rainbows' until some jerk comes in and decides to populate your territory with questionable objects in the hopes they can READ YOUR COMPLAINTS HERE ON OPENSIMWORLD while they are fondling their (ahem - your favorite depiction here) ego at your ire.

THE BEST RESPONSE TO TROLLS IS NO RESPONSE. When you ignore them, they move on to someone else who will make some noise... They are like vampires feeding off of negative energy.

The screenshot above illustrates things you can do to protect your simulators. In 'about land, options' section I un-check the Everyone boxes. Only Group users may use those features. You can also define who may enter, in 'about land, access' you can restrict access to a group or only certain individuals. Now some of you will say "Stop right there, my visitor's AO will not work or they cannot use their custom dance huds". The good news is that if your visitors are using the AO built into their viewer, that is not a problem, they will have their own custom animations or dances and will not need to run scripts. If the visitor is someone you can trust, you can allow them into the group... If you are having a party, you can temporarily enable script access to guests while you are present. When you are running the region it is up to YOU to POLICE IT. You have options for blocking hostiles in your built-in configuration files. There are also scripted solutions for traffic control where you can banish individual users, entire grids or IP ranges in real-time. You are free to seek out any technology which keeps your world safe. I strongly advise that you examine the code before employing these security devices.

For Hypergrid users: Enjoying a LAG-FREE experience is not the HOST's responsibility. IT IS YOURS.

As computers get more powerful each year, region operators WILL populate their sims with content that could bring many CPUs and display adapters to their knees. Lets face it, not everyone can afford to buy a new computer every year with all of the latest bells and whistles. When traveling you want to make sure your PC is optimized for controlling client side lag. Luckily, your viewer has features available to combat these issues. Reducing draw distance, particles, LOD and avatar complexity will give you better frame rates at the expense of reduced visual quality.

Other ways to protect yourself when traveling include: Making sure your SUITCASE IS EMPTY - the more junk you have in there, the more BLOAT that follows you as you travel. You can also make a lightweight hypergrid avatar. The screenshot above shows my actual inventory window. Instead of carrying everything on my person, I have everything rezzed on land in a hidden region on my grid that only I can access. Less inventory means less orange smoke at login. I have been told that some shady grid owners can use rogue simulator code see what is in your suitcase and copy it. I have also heard of grid operators cloning visitors via collision scripted objects - it is easy to copy stuff a cloned avatar is wearing. I always say "Never wear anything when traveling that you do not want some simpleton to copy". I have seen some nasty OSSL code that will crash the sim of the person who cloned you without permission. Trolling the trolls can be fun BUT I digress, TWO WRONGS DO NOT MAKE IT RIGHT.

Opensim does not have to be the 'WILD WILD WEST' - protect yourselves & protect your regions. You and your guests can enjoy the best of Opensimulator.

As always, feel free to share this article when needed.

Peace & Love
Spax

ADVISORY: If you are NEW to Opensim, there are many choices for worlds to live in. Do yourself a favor and run a background check on ANY GRID before you open your wallet.

Google search: Alex Pomposelli site:hypergridbusiness.com

LOST DATA in Opensim.

Hello everyone, I recently decided to move my regions back into a mini-grid application (linked in my profile) due to issues I was experiencing with OSgrid. One of which was the problem with losing MESH assets. It was a well known fact that some 'textures' would go missing but eventually return again. My biggest issue was mesh assets being worn on NPCs while rezzed inworld. One NPC had his head missing, the maid had a missing foot. Console errors would warn me that my NPCs were not going to be fully drawn. I keep boxes of all assets for NPCs and the backups also had the same missing content problem. It does not end there, boxes with mesh items rezzed on land inworld (not in inventory folders) were also affected. It was my understanding (from online articles) that storing items on land was generally regarded as being safer than keeping items in your inventory.

What do you do?

When attempting to load an old oar to OSgrid, I discovered that it will ignore assets which are already in their database, even if the osgrid entry is damaged or missing. So the only way to get those items back is to load this oar on another grid. Maybe a Standalone, Dreamgrid or any other server which has it's own database. Here is how my recovery procedure worked:

1. I loaded an oar backup (from a hidden INVENTORY REGION) I made LAST NIGHT which had several thousand missing items. During the creation process, RED console errors gave warnings of items that would not be included in the archive.

2. I created a separate region to load oars (made last year and the year before) of that SAME sim. As the oars were loading I noticed it was skipping assets and only loading the missing content. I had one old oar load 15 assets and skip the 25k+ which were already in the database. In this experiment, I used several oars in the "recovery" region. I emptied the sim after each oar load. I figured It would not necessary to keep the content live.

3. When all was said and done, this produced an interesting side effect. Since missing assets are now in my new database, I could go into the region which once had asset loading errors and rez mesh content which was previously missing. This tells me that the damaged oar had mention of the missing assets written into it and all that was needed is to load the missing items into the database for retrieval. The way Oar archives work is nothing short of genius!

4. Once the procedure is complete a NEW OAR can be made (with noticeably less content errors) and the Wizardry & Steamworks database cleanup procedure (https://grimore.org/opensim/database/asset_cleaner) can be used to discard database bloat.

Anyway, I wanted to share my findings on this topic and I hope it will help someone who has lost assets. As a content creator, I can tell you it is devastating to lose things you spent a great deal of personal time making. An old saying comes to mind: "Never keep all of your eggs in one basket". Having a hypergrid enabled standalone region on the side will let you get those lost items back. If you wish to stay on OSgrid, you can have your alt bring recovered data to your OSgrid region with NEW asset IDs.

I cannot stress enough... BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP your DATA.

-Peace & Love
Spax

New Feature: When health drops to 10, you are sent to "The Afterlife" where you can regenerate health. If your health reaches 0 by chance, the simulator teleports you home, same as it does in SL. Keep an eye on your health meter! We are SERIOUS about the dress code, be sure to read the Dismayland description before entering!

Ozone MiniVerse - Exportable Content

Exports are disabled in Ozone MiniVerse. This region contains all of the exportable goods we have on offer. Simply click a box to receive a folder with it's contents. SimGEAR content will only be dispensed to OSgrid avatars. hg.osgrid.org:80:XoAoX